I recently bought both the gaming and cinema editions of the Marseille mCable, their respective pages are marseilleinc.com/gaming-edition/ and marseilleinc.com/cinema-edition/. I apologize ahead of time for the image quality, they are PNGs on a registered imgur to avoid lossy compression, but I do not have a dedicated hardware capture device so they were taken with a 6S plus.
This is a review and expansion of the description/analysis I gave of the gaming version found here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1638914/pc-perspective-marseille-mcable-gaming-edition-remove-aliasing-with-an-hdmi-cable/70#post_26372105
Feel free to ask any questions about either and I will do my best to answer them (I do not yet own a 4K panel, so I won't really be able to answer questions involving them).
Note: both cables provide different forms of color processing, these are noticeable in Bloodborne, but the color differences in RDR are largely due to the changing weather, so focus on the color changes in BB.
I chose to use Bloodborne as an example game as anyone who has played it knows how terrible the image quality was due to excessive chromatic aberration and a complete lack of anti-aliasing. All of these will be set at 1080p display resolution since if you set it to 720p the ps4 just supersamples the image as the internal rendering resolution is locked at 1080p regardless of output resolution.
This is what BB normally looks like:
![T96ZA2V.jpg]( "T96ZA2V.jpg")
Clearly, there is a lot of aliasing on everything and the CA gets worse the farther things are from the center of the screen
This is what just the gaming edition looks like:
![veKa3D4.jpg]( "veKa3D4.jpg")
We can see really good anti aliasing, but there is a noticeable texture blurring which gives them a kind of oil-paint look. Also notice that the chromatic aberration has been substantially reduced, giving a much cleaner and clearer image
Here is the cinema edition:
![LwYgln9.jpg]( "LwYgln9.jpg")
Oddly enough, the cinema edition which is supposed to be aimed at TV and films has anti-aliasing, though not as strong or as good at edge catching as the gaming edition. CA is slightly reduced. The cinema edition has a particularly strong sharpening filter and does not have the oil-paint effect the gaming edition has. It introduced noticeable halos due to the sharpening, but I am honestly starting to prefer this version. Testing in 60fps games like Nioh it has no problem handling 60fps content.
Finally, this is what you get if you combine the gaming edition plus the extra sharpening and image processing of the cinema edition:
![0wVdW00.jpg]( "0wVdW00.jpg")
Honestly I do not know what to make of this one yet, it seems like overkill and doesn't really give much return for the $240+ you would spend on the cables (they are both $120).
Here are some scaling results with RDR which uses 2xmsaa and a 1280x720 rendering resolution. I set the X1S at 720p output resolution to avoid using the built in scaler by the console.
First is the base game being upscaled to 1080p using the better than average scaler in my BenQ XL2430T.
![EyqcQEm.png]( "EyqcQEm.png")
Even with the 2xMSAA the game uses it just looks awful, the game looks quite good being scaled 1:1 though, so a lot of clarity is being lost trying to play at 1080p sadly
This is the game being upscaled using the built in scaler in the Xbox One S:
![ofdACI0.png]( "ofdACI0.png")
The scaler in the X1S gives a slightly sharper image than the XL2430T, but it still looks pretty bad, not much else to say here.
Here is the game being upscaled using the gaming edition:
![wQlQKIv.png]( "wQlQKIv.png")
Obviously a lot better than either the built in scaler or the one you are going to get in a monitor, with additional anti-aliasing on top of that. Honestly, the game looks pretty decent but as you can see the results are pretty blurry. Using a TV you may be able to counteract this by using additional sharpening.
This is what the cinema edition looks like for comparison:
![F24g2Bl.png]( "F24g2Bl.png")
Very similar results to the gaming edition, but a bit sharper due to the additional sharpening the cinema edition provides. The anti-aliasing isn't quite as good, but if you are only interested in upscaling last-gen titles, this may be the better option you are not a fan of the oil-paint effect the gaming edition introduces.
Finally, this is what happens if you use the gaming edition for upscaling then the cinema edition to sharpen and clean up that 1080p signal coming out of it:
![06sOxHh.png]( "06sOxHh.png")
Obviously the sharpest results here, but there can be subtle visual artifacts here and there on small details due to the doubling up of image processing.
Ultimately, it is kind of mixed bag--neither is perfect but they both give much better results than without. Buying decision should depend on what you would rather have: excellent anti-aliasing plus blur or okay anti-aliasing without. I have tested how the cables work with different forms of AA and can confirm they have no problem being used on top of FXAA, which a lot of games use (it actually cleans up the missed edges and sub-pixel artifacts caused by this form), temporal AA which is becoming increasingly popular, MSAA which is sometimes used by older games as post-process methods didn't exist yet, and neither have any problem being used with games that have dynamic rendering resolutions, such as Nioh which can drop to below 720P on action mode on a base PS4. I didn't see any issues being used on games which have film grain either, such as The Order 1886.
With both the gaming and cinema editions performing color processing, there is definitely black crushing occurring, i.e., an artificial narrowing of the color spectrum to push up bright colors and push down dark colors to make the image have more contrast and color saturation.
To further expand on how the cables deal with games utilizing DRS (Dynamic-Resolution Scaling), neither cable fails to detect aliasing or the video signal. I took some images of Nioh at 1-2 notches down from the rendering resolution, which according to DigitalFoundry is around 1728x972 on my PS4 Pro.
When consoles (any of them, really) use DRS the output signal, seen either by the mcables or tv/monitor, is whatever the display resolution was set at and the console, using whatever algorithm implemented by the game engine, performs upscaling of 3D elements (this is how the UI stays 1080p even if the game drops to 720p, for example). With this being the case, both cables will "see" 1080p signals and will not be using their scalers, they will however still perform all there other image processing as seen here:
Vanilla 1728x972, 1080p output:
![vHKJKo0.png]( "vHKJKo0.png")
As we can see there is a lot of aliasing, a combination of the game using no AA at all during gameplay in Action mode and the additional aliasing induced by poor upscaling, regardless of what PS4 model is used.
This is the game at 1728x972 with a 1080p output using the gaming edition:
![IfJX39p.png]( "IfJX39p.png")
All the post-processing effects are clearly in place--anti-aliasing, color alterations, and so on.
Here is the cinema edition:
![2AE84WA.jpg]( "2AE84WA.jpg")
Again, we get the decent AA this version provides and the additional sharpening.
Hopefully this should clarify how the cables deal with sub-native games and in particular the Switch which I keep hearing people ask about.
This is a review and expansion of the description/analysis I gave of the gaming version found here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1638914/pc-perspective-marseille-mcable-gaming-edition-remove-aliasing-with-an-hdmi-cable/70#post_26372105
Feel free to ask any questions about either and I will do my best to answer them (I do not yet own a 4K panel, so I won't really be able to answer questions involving them).
Note: both cables provide different forms of color processing, these are noticeable in Bloodborne, but the color differences in RDR are largely due to the changing weather, so focus on the color changes in BB.
I chose to use Bloodborne as an example game as anyone who has played it knows how terrible the image quality was due to excessive chromatic aberration and a complete lack of anti-aliasing. All of these will be set at 1080p display resolution since if you set it to 720p the ps4 just supersamples the image as the internal rendering resolution is locked at 1080p regardless of output resolution.
This is what BB normally looks like:
Clearly, there is a lot of aliasing on everything and the CA gets worse the farther things are from the center of the screen
This is what just the gaming edition looks like:
We can see really good anti aliasing, but there is a noticeable texture blurring which gives them a kind of oil-paint look. Also notice that the chromatic aberration has been substantially reduced, giving a much cleaner and clearer image
Here is the cinema edition:
Oddly enough, the cinema edition which is supposed to be aimed at TV and films has anti-aliasing, though not as strong or as good at edge catching as the gaming edition. CA is slightly reduced. The cinema edition has a particularly strong sharpening filter and does not have the oil-paint effect the gaming edition has. It introduced noticeable halos due to the sharpening, but I am honestly starting to prefer this version. Testing in 60fps games like Nioh it has no problem handling 60fps content.
Finally, this is what you get if you combine the gaming edition plus the extra sharpening and image processing of the cinema edition:
Honestly I do not know what to make of this one yet, it seems like overkill and doesn't really give much return for the $240+ you would spend on the cables (they are both $120).
Here are some scaling results with RDR which uses 2xmsaa and a 1280x720 rendering resolution. I set the X1S at 720p output resolution to avoid using the built in scaler by the console.
First is the base game being upscaled to 1080p using the better than average scaler in my BenQ XL2430T.
Even with the 2xMSAA the game uses it just looks awful, the game looks quite good being scaled 1:1 though, so a lot of clarity is being lost trying to play at 1080p sadly
This is the game being upscaled using the built in scaler in the Xbox One S:
The scaler in the X1S gives a slightly sharper image than the XL2430T, but it still looks pretty bad, not much else to say here.
Here is the game being upscaled using the gaming edition:
Obviously a lot better than either the built in scaler or the one you are going to get in a monitor, with additional anti-aliasing on top of that. Honestly, the game looks pretty decent but as you can see the results are pretty blurry. Using a TV you may be able to counteract this by using additional sharpening.
This is what the cinema edition looks like for comparison:
Very similar results to the gaming edition, but a bit sharper due to the additional sharpening the cinema edition provides. The anti-aliasing isn't quite as good, but if you are only interested in upscaling last-gen titles, this may be the better option you are not a fan of the oil-paint effect the gaming edition introduces.
Finally, this is what happens if you use the gaming edition for upscaling then the cinema edition to sharpen and clean up that 1080p signal coming out of it:
Obviously the sharpest results here, but there can be subtle visual artifacts here and there on small details due to the doubling up of image processing.
Ultimately, it is kind of mixed bag--neither is perfect but they both give much better results than without. Buying decision should depend on what you would rather have: excellent anti-aliasing plus blur or okay anti-aliasing without. I have tested how the cables work with different forms of AA and can confirm they have no problem being used on top of FXAA, which a lot of games use (it actually cleans up the missed edges and sub-pixel artifacts caused by this form), temporal AA which is becoming increasingly popular, MSAA which is sometimes used by older games as post-process methods didn't exist yet, and neither have any problem being used with games that have dynamic rendering resolutions, such as Nioh which can drop to below 720P on action mode on a base PS4. I didn't see any issues being used on games which have film grain either, such as The Order 1886.
With both the gaming and cinema editions performing color processing, there is definitely black crushing occurring, i.e., an artificial narrowing of the color spectrum to push up bright colors and push down dark colors to make the image have more contrast and color saturation.
To further expand on how the cables deal with games utilizing DRS (Dynamic-Resolution Scaling), neither cable fails to detect aliasing or the video signal. I took some images of Nioh at 1-2 notches down from the rendering resolution, which according to DigitalFoundry is around 1728x972 on my PS4 Pro.
When consoles (any of them, really) use DRS the output signal, seen either by the mcables or tv/monitor, is whatever the display resolution was set at and the console, using whatever algorithm implemented by the game engine, performs upscaling of 3D elements (this is how the UI stays 1080p even if the game drops to 720p, for example). With this being the case, both cables will "see" 1080p signals and will not be using their scalers, they will however still perform all there other image processing as seen here:
Vanilla 1728x972, 1080p output:
As we can see there is a lot of aliasing, a combination of the game using no AA at all during gameplay in Action mode and the additional aliasing induced by poor upscaling, regardless of what PS4 model is used.
This is the game at 1728x972 with a 1080p output using the gaming edition:
All the post-processing effects are clearly in place--anti-aliasing, color alterations, and so on.
Here is the cinema edition:
Again, we get the decent AA this version provides and the additional sharpening.
Hopefully this should clarify how the cables deal with sub-native games and in particular the Switch which I keep hearing people ask about.
